U.S. patent number 4,522,114 [Application Number 06/474,823] was granted by the patent office on 1985-06-11 for air duct assembly.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Nissan Motor Company, Limited. Invention is credited to Yoshio Matsuno.
United States Patent |
4,522,114 |
Matsuno |
June 11, 1985 |
Air duct assembly
Abstract
In an air duct assembly, the air duct is integrally provided
with a harness sheath which is formed with a laterally openable,
longitudinal slit adapted to permit the harness to be inserted in
the sheath and retained therein. The harness sheath may be molded,
integrally with the air duct, of a polyethylene resin by
blow-molding, for example. The air duct is a defroster duct which
extends transversely across the passenger comparment of an
automobile.
Inventors: |
Matsuno; Yoshio (Sagamihara,
JP) |
Assignee: |
Nissan Motor Company, Limited
(Yokohama, JP)
|
Family
ID: |
13120835 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/474,823 |
Filed: |
March 10, 1983 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Apr 12, 1982 [JP] |
|
|
57-59703 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
454/127; 138/103;
174/47; 138/178 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60H
1/0055 (20130101); B60H 1/00557 (20130101); B60H
1/242 (20130101); B60R 16/0215 (20130101); B60H
1/00564 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B60H
1/00 (20060101); B60R 16/02 (20060101); F16L
011/12 (); F16L 055/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;138/103,108,172,174,178
;174/47,98 ;98/2.09,2.205,2.08 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Bryant, III; James E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Schwartz, Jeffery, Schwaab, Mack,
Blumenthal & Evans
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In an automobile having a passenger compartment, an air duct
assembly, comprising:
a harness;
a defroster duct molded of a plastic material, said defroster duct
being disposed at a forward part of said passenger compartment,
extending transversely across said automobile, and having a bottom;
and
a harness sheath provided at said bottom of said defroster duct,
said harness sheath being molded of said plastic material
integrally with said defroster duct and having a wall formed with a
laterally openable, longitudinal slit, said harness sheath being
sufficiently flexible such that when said harness is placed in
substantially aligned contact with said slit and is forced into
said sheath through said slit, said wall of the sheath is flexed
such that said slit is laterally opened to permit the harness to
pass through said slit into said sheath, and the harness being
received in said sheath, is covered over a substantial length by
said sheath so that said sheath serves as a protector for the
harness to prevent the harness from coming into contact with
neighboring components when the body of the motor vehicle vibrates,
thereby preventing the possibility of fire due to breakage of an
insulator coating of said harness.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air duct assembly having a harness
sheath provided integrally therewith.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to have a better understanding of the present invention,
reference will first be made to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying
drawings, which illustrate a conventional harness mounting
structure of an automotive air duct assembly, wherein in the case
where, for example, a harness 1 is introduced from an engine room E
into a vehicle compartment R through a dash floor panel 2 to be
wired to a fuse box 3 as shown in FIG. 1, the harness 1 is retained
at intermediate points by means of grip members 5 welded or
otherwise secured to a dash upper panel 4. Indicated at 1a, 6 and 9
are branch connectors, a windshield, and a cowl top panel,
respectively.
However, the foregoing conventional harness mounting structure has
the following disadvantages: Being point-supported by means of the
grip members 5, the harness 1 tends to flex between the grip
members 5 so that each time the vehicle body vibrates, the flexed
portions of the harness 1 are caused to swing to be rubbed against
a dash insulator 8, duct 9 and/or other components provided
adjacent thereto and thus the insulator tape of the harness 1 is
finally broken, which is very likely to cause a fire. Obviously,
this raises the problem of disaster prevention. Another
disadvantage is such that the efficiency of harness wiring
operation is low due to the fact that the steps of bending the
plate-like grip members 5 to embrace the harness 1 are involved in
an attempt to mount the harness 1 in position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an air duct
assembly provided with a novel and improved harness mounting
structure which is so designed as to obviate the aforementioned
disadvantages of the prior-art structure.
Briefly, according to the present invention, the air duct assembly
is provided, by means of molding, with a harness sheath which is
formed with a laterally openable, longitudinal slit adapted to
permit the harness to be inserted in the sheath and retained
therein. The air duct is a defroster duct which extends
transversely across the passenger compartment of an automobile.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent from the ensuing description taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a conventional
harness mounting structure of an automotive air duct assembly.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines II--II of FIG.
1.
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the air duct
assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines IV--IV of FIG.
4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, there is shown the air duct assembly
according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein parts
similar to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 are indicated by like reference
numerals, and further description thereof will be omitted.
As will be appreciated, the air duct assembly, indicated generally
at D, of the present invention is characterized in that the air
duct body 11, or defroster duct 11 is integrally provided, by means
of molding, with a harness sheath 10 having a laterally openable,
longitudinal slit 10a formed in the wall thereof.
The harness sheath 10 is formed of a plastic material such as, for
example, polyethylene resin or the like, integrally with the
defroster duct 11, by means of blow-molding. In the illustrated
embodiment, the harness sheath 10 is provided at the bottom of the
defroster duct 11.
The harness sheath 10 is laterally openable at the slit 10a, as
mentioned above, so that the harness 1 can be forced into the
sheath 10 through the thus opened slit, and thereafter, the sheath
10 can return, by virtue of its own elasticity, to the original
configuration. Indicated at 11a and 12 are a defroster nozzle and a
grille therefor, respectively.
In harness mounting operation, in the case where the harness 1 is
introduced from the engine room E into the vehicle passenger
compartment R through the dash floor panel 2, the harness 1 is
placed in substantially aligned contact with the slit 10a of the
sheath 10 and then forced into the sheath through the slit 10a. By
so doing, the wall of the sheath 10 is flexed so that the slit 10a
thereof is laterally opened, thus permitting the harness 1 to be
inserted therein.
Upon insertion, the harness 1 turns out wrapped up, over its entire
length, in the sheath; thus, the sheath 10 serves to protect the
harness 1 from the components provided adjacent thereto.
As will be appreciated from the foregoing explanation, according to
the present invention, the air duct body, such as a defroster duct
or the like, is provided with a plastic harness sheath which is
formed integrally therewith by means of molding, the sheath being
formed with a laterally openable, longitudinal slit through which
the harness can be inserted in the sheath, and with such an
arrangement, the following effects and advantages can be
attained:
The harness sheath serves as a protector for the harness as
mentioned above; thus, even if vibrations of the vehicle body cause
the sheath to be swung into contact with the neighboring
components, the harness per se can be protected from direct contact
with such components. Needless to say, it is possible to avoid such
a situation that the harness is swung into striking contact with
the dash insulator and so forth. In this way, the possibility can
completely be precluded that a fire breaks out due to breakage of
the insulator coating of the harness. Thus, the problem of disaster
prevention with the aforementioned prior-art arrangement can most
effectively be eliminated.
Furthermore, the wiring of the harness can be carried out simply be
forcing the harness in the sheath through the slit formed in the
sheath, so that the wiring operation can be performed with enhanced
efficiency.
Still furthermore, the harness mounting structure according to the
present invention is advantageous in terms of cost over the
aforementioned prior-art one in that the harness sheath can be
molded, integrally with the air duct body, of a plastic material
such as polyethylene resin or the like, by means of
blow-molding.
While the present invention has been illustrated and described with
respect to a specific embodiment thereof, it is to be understood
that the present invention is by no means limited thereto but
covers all changes and modifications which will become possible
within the scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *